The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

This multicultural and international literature picture book reveals issues regarding family and culture. The narrator’s great-grandmother travels to America from her home country of Russia. Once in America, the great-grandmother is faced with difficulties speaking English and fitting-in with the rest of the world. Despite this, she had her dress and her babushka to remind her of her home in Russia. However, she soon outgrew her dress. Her family decided to turn the dress and babushka into a quilt. This quilt was used during special events, such as weddings and births. The quilt was passed down from generation to generation to use at these special events. The author, Patricia Polacco, reveals that it was her great-grandmother who arrived in America from Russia and started the family traditions associated with the quilt. In fact, Patricia Polacco intends on passing the quilt down to her own daughter someday. In our Social Studies Method’s course, we had a project in which we had to reveal an artifact that represented our family’s history. I believe this book would be great to use during a Social Studies lesson on family history and introduce a similar project. In addition, I believe this book is eye-opening to students about the difficulties that some immigrants go through once arriving in America.